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Guruji

"Yoga, as a way of life and a philosophy, can be practiced by anyone with inclination to undertake it, for yoga belongs to humanity as a whole. It is not the property of any one group or any one individual, but can be followed by any and all, in any corner of the globe, regardless of class, creed or religion."

- Sri K. Pattabhi Jois

R. Sharath Jois

"You should not be practicing to have a 'good' practice, but instead to keep steadiness within yourself. Practice happily regardless of whether it is 'good' or not. Sometimes some postures will not be possible, but when you accept the good and the bad and everything becomes equal for you, that is yoga."

- R. Sharath Jois

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Burnt To Ash

"All Inquiry is meant for one purpose; to take you experientially into the unknown as efficiently as possible. Once you get there, simply be still because inquiry has delivered you to its destination. The rest is up to Grace. Do not hold onto any knowledge that comes your way. Even the greatest revelations much not be clung to, or you will end up with a head full of memories and a heart empty of substance. The truth is ever new, existing only in the now. The highest truth is beyond knowledge and experience. It is beyond time and space, and beyond beingness, consciousness, and oneness. Just remember that all direct path techniques are meant simply to undermine, to cut away, the one who is performing them. No matter what spiritual path you've walked or what teachings you've followed, they must lead you back to no path and no teaching. A true teaching is like a blazing fire that consumes the itself. The teaching must not only consume you, but consume itself as well. All must be burned to ash, and then the ash must be burned. The, and only then, is the Ultimate realized. True Enlightenment destroys enlightenment. As long as you can refer back to yourself and say, 'I'm enlightened', you not. Enlightenment is authentic only when there is no one left to be enlightened. Even to say 'I am nobody', is one too many. There's a point when you intuitively realize that to be Free you have to give up your attachment to Freedom. You have to quit asking yourself: Is it still there? Am I okay? You have to decide to never look over your shoulder again to see if you're free or if others know you're free. You just have to let yourself burn there - no matter what. This isn't something I can help you with. I can tell you what you need to do, but you have to do it. In the beginning, teachers can help a lot. But the deeper you go, all they can do is point, and clarify, and tell you what you need to do. Only you can take this step. Nobody can push you in to this place."

The psoas. I'm beginning to think with all the adjustments I do on a daily basis it has taken a beating. I especially notice in prac...

About

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."

15.1.17

This is a short segment I did with Alessandro Sigismondi and Dharma Bums last year simply called "My Dharma" a documentary. I'll post the full documentary soon! For some reason I never go around to posting here, but I guess it is better late than never!

6.1.17

Here's a recent Ashtanga Yoga Advanced A (3rd Series) demonstration I did at Purple Valley Retreat Center in Goa, India. We shot it straight through so there are even a few mistakes. I simply did a practice as I would on any given day. So in that light, it is what it is.

27.12.16

Above is my latest interview with Stu Girling at Purple Valley Retreat Center in Goa, India. This go around I felt much more comfortable as the first interview with him I was completely nervous. Now it simply feels like having a conversation with a friend.

17.10.16

20.6.16

Humbled to part of an inspiring project with the great yoga photographer, Richard Pilnick. He is creating a global resource of unique yoga photographs to inspire and honor the practice with integrity - encouraging more people into the world of yoga though photography.

The crowdfunding campaign has just launched with some great rewards, so please join me in supporting Richard in building a worldwide community to share the beauty of this practice and help Richard inspire more people in to yoga through his art & gift.

12.5.16

Yes folks this is a long video, so make some tea and get comfortable. Backbending is a topic that takes time to go into and in many ways I am still figuring it out and learning to expand my awareness inside poses that I have found to be most challenging in the practice. Enjoy.

29.3.16

28.3.16

I filmed a strength building series at Purple Valley Yoga Retreat Center. Of course this isn't used to replace the yoga practice but only to help fill gaps in our process of building more refined strength. Hope you enjoy!

Last weekend was one of the few weekends I had off, kind of. I still taught class on Sunday but had Friday and Saturday off so it's all good. Today, Monday, Swedes have off as well but we continued on with Mysore class today. I've been traveling a lot over the weekends but since it was Easter weekend it was a great opportunity to slow down and enjoy the beautiful city I live in. With the weather slowly turning and the light coming back it does Stockholm justice.

Believe it or not it has been 6 years since I have been living here and I still suck a Swedish, haha. Well, I guess it isn't so funny. I need to work on that somehow. It has been on my mind. However, finding the time to study is another issue. Right now a little daily is gonna have to do it. One problem is we don't have television which is one good way of learning the language beyond the normal flash cards, reading and conventional study. Another, is the times I have attempted to speak Swedish I get one of two responses: One being, "Huh?" And the other, "Lol. That's cute." I don't speak Swedish to be cute. So the motivation to speak is rather low for this native English speaker. I know. Excuses, excuses.

With that being said I should bush up on my Spanish because I am headed to Barcelona on Wednesday! I did study that in school and the language is definitely part of the cultural fabric of the U.S. but I don't think I will have enough to get by. I also hear in Spain the accent is rather different. In a way I want to be good at languages and in another I feel so overwhelmed by it.

Instead of longer daylight I wish there were simply more hours in a day.

Prague! Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting this beautiful city for the first time. With already a number of fist time visits this year I have to say Prague is another special city that is sometimes missed for those who tour Europe from abroad. Put it on your list. I wouldn't miss it.

Most importantly, I was there to teach an Ashtanga yoga workshop to an awesome bunch in a spectacular venue. The picture below shows the ceiling of where the event was held. I'm a big fan of architecture and design so I took an active interest and had to snap the shot. However, what was going on down below was even better. The energy and attentive interest from the yoga community here was amazing. I left so grateful for the experience.

26.3.16

The second weekend of March I had the pleasure of teaching an Ashtanga yoga workshop in Amsterdam at the beautiful Conservatorium Hotel. I had such a lovely time with this enthusiastic and vibrant group of Ashtanga yoga practitioners in the beautiful setting of the city. This was my first time visiting Amsterdam and I loved every bit of it. With a huge biking culture, much like Copenhagen, there are many meandering streets with quaint shops and cafes. I simply loved it. There is more of an alternative vibe, for instance versus Stockholm which has its own different kind of charm.

I also had the pleasure of having a number of people who I have seen elsewhere such as my retreats or workshops from other countries come to this workshop. This is the special part of doing this work is running into people who have become dear friends. I always count my blessings in this regard.

The last two weeks of February I had the honor of being invited to teach both in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. My first trip to the country, I arrived free of expectation but definitely with a sense of curiosity. Unfortunately, soon after I landed in Johannesburg I came down with the flu. Ugh. What an experience. It was the first time in a long time I had ever gotten that sick. The timing was awful but I made the best of it and thankfully my host Claire made sure I was as comfortable as possible. It was a heavy mixture of body aches, fever, cough, congestion, fatigue and digestive distress. When it rains it pours. Which besides being sick I had the opportunity to sit in on a few strong thunderstorms. Since moving to Sweden I've obviously experienced loads of rain but it doesn't thunderstorm here. Something I've missed being from the midwest of the USA. So, I didn't really have the opportunity or the motivation to take pictures while in Johannesburg. However, I truly enjoyed the Ashtanga Yoga community there. They were absolutely lovely.

My second week in South Africa was spent in Cape Town. After recovering from the flu I felt much better by the time I arrived, thankfully. It is much easier to take in the landscape when feeling yourself and in that regard, well this was a place you have to soak in. The scenery is stunning!